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Tag Archives: Politics

Community bankers could be expected to rejoice at the news of JP Morgan Chase’s agreement to pay $13B in “settlements” to various federal and state agencies. None of this is good news. This strange transaction is another tightening of the toxic embrace between the TBTF banks and the regulatory agencies who sponsor, nurture, regulate and […]

What follows is a speech from Bob Atwell, CEO of Nicolet Bank, at an economic summit in Marinette, WI. This event was founded and hosted by Nicolet Bank. I have been asked to make a few observations about the economic environment in our area. I was also asked that I avoid any commentary that could […]

There is plenty of public commentary about the banking crisis in Cyprus; there is far more privately. The public discourse is about debt, deficits, politics and Europe. The private inquiries are more in the nature of, “what does this mean for me, could our government simply place a 20% tax on my bank deposits?” The […]

The election looms as I write. As you read, it will be past. In the turmoil of these last months I have started many blog posts but completed none. In the environment of intense rhetoric and emotion, it has been hard to express thoughts with clear meaning and the sincere intention of illumination. This week […]

When you owe the bank a little, they own you. When you owe the bank a lot you own them. Every seasoned lender knows the borrower holds the power when both parties understand the bank cannot afford the borrower’s failure. The loan documents still read as if the bank holds the cards, but the Musky […]

I would rather be hated for what I think than loved for what I do not. I have particularly sought to put this slightly modified maxim into action in recent years. The public is so confused and edgy, that I recently managed to anger people on the right and the left by comments I offered […]

President Obama called the CEOs of the nation’s twenty largest banks into the White House in early December and directed them to make loans. He also warned them not to resist his plan for financial industry “reform”. Regular readers know that I am a pretty shameless Midwest populist. I have no desire to defend the […]

After looking in my last post at what won’t work, here is what must be done. Business leaders must change the way they think about customers, suppliers, shareholders and their public responsibilities to our government (which means you and I as citizens). The root of all these issues is the appalling absence of a fiduciary […]

It is hard to grasp the scale of the economic events we read of daily. There has been much written and spoken already. If you would like me to comment on any particular aspect of this, please post a question. For now I just want to make the most essential comments from a street level […]